ABB commissions Finnish-Swedish HVDC link

The Fenno-Skan 2 link is owned and operated by Fingrid and Svenska Kraftnät and enables the exchange of an additional 800 MW of power between the two countries. It will run in parallel with Fenno-Skan 1, delivered by ABB in 1989.

The installation includes two converter stations, one situated in Rauma, on the Finnish side, and the other in Finnböle, in Sweden.

Martin Gross, head of ABB’s Power Systems' grid systems business, said: “In addition to enhancing capacity, facilitating power trading and improving security of supply in the region, this link will also help to improve grid reliability.”

The commissioning of Fenno-Skan 2 comes as ABB last week revealed it had won a EUR 124m ($157.5m) contract to cable the world’s longest and most powerful underground high-voltage link, to be built in Sweden and operated by Svenska Kraftnat.

The 1440MW South-West Link will run 200 km from Barkeryd to Hurva and has been called the “single most important investment in infrastructure currently underway in Sweden”. HVDC converter stations will be supplied by French group Alstom.